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hindu-cosmosWe're still mapping where this idea was first discussed. Key passages and related ideas below.

Tattva 21 — Smell (Ghrāṇa)

The power to smell: the subtle faculty of perceiving odor, last of the five senses.

Ghrāṇa is the capacity for smell — the subtle power of perceiving odor that works through the nose. The fifth and last of the knowing-faculties, it completes the set of senses by which the embodied self contacts the world. As a tattva it is the smelling-power itself, distinct from the physical organ.